Personal Narrative: My First American Mathematics Competition

For the past three years of my high school career, and now my fourth, I have made it an obligation to continually expand my horizons in regards to math; when I cannot fully grasp an idea or concept, rather than giving up, I relentlessly pursue the idea until it is understood. During freshman year, math did not come easily to me. I was forced to go in early some days because, simply, I did not comprehend the concepts. However, taking initiative with my school work, and constantly working through problems that were difficult can be deemed one of the best decisions I have made. Although my final grade may not have been an

As I look back on my prepubescent years, I remember failing a difficult math test in the fourth grade. I was extremely disheartened. It was one of the hardest tests of the year, but I was determined to pass with flying colors. I had put my utmost effort into solving each of the problems, and I had even studied for days in advance.

My palms were sweating, my heart was racing, I had no idea what to expect or who I was going to meet. I was never the type of girl to embrace new situations, I hated change and I wasn’t very good with meeting new people. I figured once I got to high school it would be my chance to start all over, turn the page in my book of life, and flip over a new leaf. I wanted to finally be the girl that fit in with everyone. I had imagined myself going to parties with big groups of my new friends, having sleepovers and doing all of the things cool high school kids normally do. I was certain that my high school career would be just like one of those really corny teen movies and I would live happily ever after with the homecoming crown and the boy of my

After all, math was one of my best subjects. I had never really had an experience where I just couldn't understand the concept of a math problem, of how it was solved and why. Our teachers has warned us back in elementary school, that one day we would hit an invisible wall and not ease through classes. That one day we would struggle with understanding a problem, a concept or even a subject. I had never believed them, thinking this would never happen to me, that I could somehow avoid this wall of confusion and just walk right through. But there I was, utterly confused and frustrated at a simple problem that everyone else could solve. Why was I not seeing it? Why couldn't I understand the solution? I asked myself. For the first time in my life I really struggled to get an A in a class. I had my sister tutor me almost every day, preparing for a quiz and then the next, and the next. I came in to my teacher for lunch and he helped me step by step. I studied for tests, and worked hard. And my work payed off. I got a high A in the course, and a lot of experience from it. It taught me how to work hard for something, to earn a good grade when you deserve it, and it gave me the skills I needed to get As in the high school classes I am taking this

My first failure discouraged me to the point where, I felt like I would never reach an advanced math level again. The lack of self-confidence that resulted from my sub-par math scores soon began to negatively affect some of my other classes. I quickly realized that the trend had to stop. I worked diligently to achieve what, at the time, seemed unattainable. My change in the outlook of my repeated failures helped me to finally succeed. Throughout the course of the last two years, I have grown more self-aware in my study habits. I push myself even harder when I think I have done the best I can.

I like to be engaged in activities that contribute to the community. I was part of the Mile of Hope, event used to raise awareness for cancer and fundraise to support the families of those affected. Through my membership in National Honor Society I have contributed in activities such as the annual toy drive to provide children in need with a gift on the holiday of Christmas, I also participated in the annual can food drive to provide families food for a Thanksgiving meal. I volunteered at the Brownsville Public Library assisting the public and organizing books. For a period of time I also volunteered at an income tax company Jackson Hewitt cleaning and organizing the

Throughout my four years here at Virginia High School, I have multiple positive contributions. One of the bigger contributions that I have made was being a leader through National Honor Society. This has given me the opportunity to set up the blood drives that happens every couple of months. It has also allowed me to participate at the food pantry. All of these activities have made me the person I am today and also allowed me to help the school look better in the community.

Before the 6th grade, I really enjoyed math and I believed I was even good at it. Then to add to my excitement about math, I made a perfect score on my 6th grade Taks test. However, the next year (my 7th grade year) my teacher was a new teacher and you could tell she was struggling. She was a very nice teacher, and I loved her so much, I just struggled to understand what she was teaching. The next year, I transferred to a new school. Here, the teachers were not certified but they tried to help with everything they possibly could; however, their ability to help us was pretty limited. At my new school, we did all of our work on computers for half of the day and attended college classes at Panola and TSTC the rest of day. While I truly loved this

Last year I took a few classes at Columbus State Community College. There were definitely some changes that I had to make so my life could still run smoothly. Some of the things that changed were my extracurricular activities. I had to swim less often than before because I had classes or homework that I needed to do. My study habits didn’t change very much, surprisingly. I still did my work sooner instead of later. I won’t say I always did it as soon as I could because while that would have been optimal it didn’t always work out. And I made sure I always got the work that was due first, done first. Also during the school year my classes at Columbus State were on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. In addition to those I still had all

My AP Physics C classroom is filled with whiteboards. You can start writing a problem on one board, circle around the room, and find the answer right next to where you started. With a small class of just eight students, application of physics and calculus to real world scenarios is gripping. I remember contemplating during the MLB World Series fervor how long batters had to react to a pitch. My physics class and I were intrigued. We all grabbed Expo Markers and began solving for velocity, acceleration, impulse, all the while keeping in mind cross-sectional area of the ball, the stride of the pitcher, and other minor variables. I modified the problem by asking the class to use Aroldis Chapman (the fastest pitcher) as the pitcher. We spent hours

“Crunch, Crunch,” I heard as I walked towards the shiny blue portal. It was dark, hazy, and cold. I heard “grr” behind me get louder and louder. I turned around, I lifted my arms, and pulled the trigger. I couldn’t tell what shooked more, my arms from being scared, or the vibration of the gun. I thought the zombie died and it was all over, until I turned around and three more zombies appeared. I pulled the trigger as fast as a jackhammer but it was no use. Game over.

At the beginning of sixth grade, I met my two future best friends, and I did not like them. I found one boring, the other frustrating and hard to understand. I couldn’t connect with the first, and I didn’t want to bother trying to get to know the second. Not long after, however, we became inseparable. So now it’s the three of us— my Jewish identity, mathematics, and me.

As I walked up the stairs of my school to what would be the first ever AP course in my life, my mind raced with anxious thoughts of what lied ahead. I was a sophomore taking AP Spanish Lang, something that my previous Spanish teacher had told me should come naturally due to my Mexican heritage. If only I could believe her, I had spent years trying to Americanize*its a formal essay don't use slang shit like americanize* myself to fit in with those around me.

There were times in elementary school when teachers had to pick me up from my chair to give another student a chance to use the school computer. When I first laid eyes on a computer I was amazed at all the things that it could accomplish but I never really delved the aspects of it. This changed when I took my AP Computer Science course during my junior year, taking the class helped develop my passion for the computer. Taking this course helped me to explore other areas of the computer that I didn’t know existed, because I wanted to learn more about the world of computers I decided to join the cyber security team and the robotics team at my school. By joining the cybersecurity team I was able to augment my knowledge on computers in general,

In junior High School, things started to turn around for me. Although I was still placed in lower level classes, I developed a love for learning. In the years to come from Junior High to High School, I had a strong urge to make up for lost time. One class I started to excel in was the one I used to have the most trouble with, Mathematics. It seemed as though the once boring and complex equations now seemed meaningful and simple. As I progressed into 8th grade, I was able to advance to normal classes. I felt that the hard work I put in was finally paying of. At this point, I felt that I could handle a higher level. At the end of 8th grade, I took the necessary procedures and tests to try and get into honor - level courses in 9th grade. After taking a summer course of Algebra 1 and several tests I was able to succeed and take the classes. The experience was great. I felt that I was finally going the right direction